Arkholme 150

1867 was an exciting year for Arkholme. It saw the construction of both Arkholme Primary School and of the Furness and Midland Joint Railway line, putting
the rural village well-and-truly on the map. The Primary School opened its doors to its first pupils from local farming families in June, 1868.
Members of our school and local community are busy making plans to mark this momentous occasion by offering a year’s worth of exciting and educational events in 2017 and 2018. We will commence the celebrations in June, 2017 with a Foundation Ceremony to mark the building of the school and of our strong and integral connections with the Church.
Each month, an event will take place to show our deep respect for the school’s past, its local connections and for its visions for the future. Our ideas for these events are as follows; we invite as many ideas from parents and local community members to comment on these and to offer any other ideas they may have.
• The planting of 150 bulbs to commemorate the occasion
• A Victorian Christmas fayre and celebration open to all the
community, (December 2017)
• A Victorian sports day, (Summer 2017)
• Curriculum studies for all pupils on:
• Victorian schools and the history of education
• Thankful villages
• Agriculture and farming
• The development of the railway
• The creation of a whole-school time capsule.
• Willow making workshops for the pupils to hark back to the village’s basket-making heritage
• Inviting former pupils into school to talk to the children about their memories of Arkholme and what they have gone on to achieve in their lives
• Open days for parents and local community members to come into school and see artefacts, diaries and maps from the school’s past, as well as a timeline created by the pupils
• A “living history” week when the pupils go back in time and experience a week of Victorian schooling, in period dress and learning as their ancestors did.
The latest meeting took place on Monday 15th May, it was very well attended and some wonderful ideas were discussed. The notes from the meeting are available here 150 Years Meeting May 2017 (opens in a new tab) everyone is welcome to join the meetings. Watch this space for the next date.